The present invention relates to an apparatus for folding cutout elements in machines for packaging articles, particularly cigarettes, to obtain rigid packets of the hinged-lid type.
A packaging machine is known in the art, in which cutout elements having pre-formed folding lines are folded onto respective articles to be packaged while being stepwise moved along a circular path by means of a wheel having along its outer periphery a plurality of radial receiving recesses or pockets. In the above-mentioned known machine, a cutout element together with a respective article is loaded onto the said wheel at two different positions spaced from each other at least one feed step on the said wheel. More particularly, at the first of the said two positions, which is termed below "insertion position", cutout elements are sequentially inserted into respective pockets by means of a slide support which is cyclically movable in radial direction with respect to the said wheel and comprises three sliders movable with respect to one another in the direction of movement of the slide. During the insertion operation, each cutout element is folded by the combined action of fixed folding members and the side walls of its respective pocket, while being pushed by the said slide, so as to completely cover its respective pocket. More particularly, at the end of the insertion operation each cutout element is arranged with its central panel forming the rear portion of the packet in contact with the bottom surface of the said pocket, with two side panels, each forming a side inner stiffening panel, in contact with the lateral surfaces opposite to the said pocket and disposed parallel to the axis of the said wheel, with two longitudinal panels the first of which is a top panel and the second a bottom panel of the packet, in contact with opposite side surfaces of the said pocket arranged perpendicularly to the axis of the said wheel, and with two pairs of inner stiffening flaps folded in contact with the inner surfaces of the said top panel and the said bottom panel, respectively. Thus, at the end of the insertion operation two panels designed to form the rear wall and the lateral side walls of the packets project from the said pocket in opposite directions and parallel to the axis of the said wheel.
At the second of the two said positions, the articles to be packaged are supplied to the inside of their respective covered pockets in the previously described manner by means of respective cutout elements and are then moved forwards by the wheel towards a discharge station at which folding of the cutout elements is terminated during ejection of the packets partially formed by their respective pockets.
From the above one can note that the principles according to which the structure of the packaging machine operates are mainly in accordance with the above described known art, on the one hand, the insertion of cutout elements and loading of articles to be packaged in two successive times and, on the other hand, effecting most of the folding operations during insertion of the cutout elements.